This invention relates to a child's safety seat, and more particularly to a child seat with an opening for accommodating a vehicle head rest. Child seats and booster seats are commonly used in vehicles to transport children that are too small to safely use only the vehicles' built-in restraint systems. This type of child seat, which typically includes a seat back and seat bottom, is placed on one of the vehicle's seats, usually the rear seat, and optionally secured thereto with the vehicle's restraint system. The child is then placed in the child seat and secured with a separate harness, the vehicle's restraint system, or a combination thereof.
To provide the intended level of protection, the child seat must be installed so that its back is in solid contact with the back of the vehicle seat. However, many vehicles are now equipped with integral head rests on the back seats, and government regulation FMVSS 202 will soon require all rear vehicle seats to have integral head rests. These vehicle head rests project outwards from the seat back and interfere with the correct installation of the child safety seat, since the child seat back cannot sit flush with the vehicle seat back.